NCLEX Review & Nursing School

Reading Time: 20 mins.

Studying for the NCLEX: Linear and Cyclical Way

When studying for the NCLEX, it is important to have a path and a certain strategy in which you can be the  most effective learner, and study what is ESSENTIAL for the NCLEX.  Understand that in order for you to reach your highest capacity in “LEARNING,”  it is important to look the strategies that you are currently using to learn and look at different processes that can make you become more successful.  Everyone agrees that it is important for us to be open to new strategies, especially learning a new strategy for the NCLEX.  The NCLEX 26 Course is going to examine the linear way and the cyclical ways of reviewing.

When we study in a liinear way, we will not study and breakdown the review in different systems, Instead we will study in way in which we look at the body system from a vertical position head to toe.  So we start from certain diseases that we can encounter from the top all the way down to the bottom.  NCLEX 26 also believes that if we study in a way in which we put certain diseases in different categories, then we are clustering our study into a certain practice and that is not just the our mind works.  Our brain works in different ways.  For the NLCEX, I have discovered that the best way to study for this exam is based on two ways: A Linear Way and the Cyclical Way.

Both used in accordance with each other, would guarantee success in the NCLEX.

Linear Way

The linear way of studying is a way in which we were taught by our parents how to study while growing up.  It is basically following one step to the next and following another step.  It will be done straight to the point. This is the style most of us will be most familiar with and will probably have grown up learning within.  Learning progresses from 1 step to the next, to the next, and you need to start at the beginning in any area of study.  Progress is measured by how many steps (or modules) you have completed along the path and completion of a module usually entails some kind of test or examination on the knowledge you have gained so far.

Cyclical Way

When I talk about studying in a cyclical way,  This way of studying is based in the concept of a wheel.  When we apply this towards studying for the NCLEX.  We look at ways in which we are able to connect different topics and diseases to their corresponding area of concern.  This is a similar way we learn as we cycle around the wheel of learning is what is there for us that time around.  We will come back to essentially the same lesson on the next cycle so there are no ‘begginners learnings’ or ‘advanced learnings’ as such.  There are the learnings you get this time, and there are the learnings you will spot next time, and there are some learnings it will do you well to face more than once.  If you keep going around the wheel long enough you’ll see it all eventually.

Holistic Learning

There is also another way in which can help us become more productive when taking the NCLEX.  This new strategy is called Holistic Learning. Holistic learning is a process for learning more effectively.  It is simply a way of explaining how smart people think.  Holistic learning is the opposite of rote memorization.  Instead of learning through force, your goal is to create webs of information that link together.  Your goal when learning anything is to create a construct or an underlying understanding.  Constructs are formed from models, chunks of understanding that aren’t completely accurate but can be used to solve problems.  You create webs of information, constructs and models by visceralizing, metaphor and exploring.  Holistic learning works with highly conceptual information where there is an underlying system.  Like a computer filing system, everything is neat, organized and separate from each other.